Action Needed Fluke Sea Bass and Scup

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Tom - I don't know the answer to your question as to why it's taken 4 or 5 years. What I do know is we have an opportunity right now to get more favorable percentages allocated to the recreational sector. That in it self makes total sense to me and I'd like to stay focused on that task.

Gerry I agree. And if you allow me I'll explain the importance of this allocation later today.

[Detour66]

DONE! Gerry you should consider posting this on the varies Facebook Fishing sites in the tri-state area. you should get a good response.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by Detour66

DONE! Gerry you should consider posting this on the varies Facebook Fishing sites in the tri-state area. you should get a good response.

Thanks I've done that on a few of the ones I belong to.

[frugalfisherman]

How many letters and petitions do you guys have to send before you realize these people don't give a rats ass what you think. It's like the sky is falling fools making up these nonsense covid rules. Want a slot fish? Just keep one!

Originally Posted by frugalfisherman

How many letters and petitions do you guys have to send before you realize these people don't give a rats ass what you think. It's like the sky is falling fools making up these nonsense covid rules. Want a slot fish? Just keep one!

Frugal, I've unfortunately had four family members die from Covid, believe me it's not a pretty sight watching every major organ in someone you love completely shut down and watching them breathe their last breath with your own eyes on a ventilator. I just think there's better analogies to get your point across about fisheries management.

That said, I do completely agree with your post regarding fisheries management. Stakeholders and public opinion are terms only in the abstract, they don't really exist in real life to the people tasked with managing I'll limit my comments to the summer flounder fishery. Fisheries management does some great work, but in the case of this fishery it's beyond comprehension what's being caused and allowed to happen to the stock. And it's as plain as day what the causes are yet year in year out a blind eye is turned.

As far as pirating a slot fish or any other fish, in many cases I've considered it but would be contradicting everything I've written about our collective responsibilities to manage our natural resources so have chosen not to. No one would be put in the position to make that decision if the stock was being managed effectively. As I've said all along, that's been proven already in the nineties through 2010 when the population increased to almost 200 million fish.

Wasn't able to listen in to yesterday's MAFMC meeting regarding summer flounder but spoke with people who were able to. In spite of every Commission and Council Member receiving my analysis, numerous public comments from many others involving concerns over the regulations and unabated harvest or older age classes and the most fecund female breeders and the negative impacts it's having on the stock, not one change was proposed in the regulations or yesterday's meeting to address the root cause of a 70 million decline in the population of this stock in 7 short years or address how the powers to be are going to change regulations to prevent the ongoing onslaught of the spawning stock, large female breeders, anemic recruitment levels and ridiculously inflated discard rates from both sectors. Not one year have these problems been mentioned much less addressed.

Everyone should be up in arms about what's coming down the pike, the so called Federal and State management of this fishery couldn't be doing more to insure our children never know what a summer flounder is. 20 years of meetings for public commentary, marches, protests, articles, sciences own data and management marches to their own tune. I wouldn't be upset about any of that if the fishery was thriving. But being it's failing miserably, we all need to be concerned with the future of this fishery. There's a different agenda in play here, and it doesn't include the overall health and future of the fishery.

Get to know the players on the MAFMC and ASMFC Committees. Get to know their names and titles, it's all listed by state and public information. Here's the ASMFC Board by state, name and title:

https://safis.accsp.org:8443/myJSPs/...jsp?member=155

Here's the MAFMC Board. Click on Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass under Special Committees after clicking on the link:

https://www.mafmc.org/committees

Get to know the names, some should be very familiar. And when this fishery is destroyed, you'll know the people involved in it's demise. The regulations and use of recreational size minimums are very much in the control of the Commission and Council one way or another. Yesterdays meeting basically validated what you said in your post which is "We don't give a crap about your opinion, stay the &$%^ out of our sand box".

Gerry you, RFA and ASA should structure the same virtual letter writing campaign with letters going directly to US Senators of the states involved in this fishery so we can bombard them with the facts I've presented to the Secretary of Commerce, NOAA, NMFS and Commission and Council Members. I'd be more than happy to volunteer my time to draft the letters. If this site and these organization truly care about reform, use the site to get Congress involved. Politicians respond to four things. Retaining or improving their positions in office, power, money and votes. Couple hundred thousand letters in a well orchestrated campaign by RFA, NJF and ASA would go a long way getting their attention and involvement to change the incredibly ineffective manner this fishery is being managed.

Would appreciate your thoughts spearheading that campaign because unlike 2018, "Enough is &^%#$@! Enough!"

[dales529]

Originally Posted by frugalfisherman

How many letters and petitions do you guys have to send before you realize these people don't give a rats ass what you think. It's like the sky is falling fools making up these nonsense covid rules. Want a slot fish? Just keep one!

Covid aside , guessing you never lost someone to that or in general ?

So for private boats I guess you could pirate a slot but for most how do you justify putting a charter or PB at risk for keeping illegal size fish? You post often here on a PP/ PB boat you fish on, are you saying they allow you to just put anything in your cooler?

[frugalfisherman]

I will repeat

[bigfishy]

Originally Posted by frugalfisherman

I will repeat

Nothing new...been that way for a looong time,only recently getting worse...on all levels!!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Well looks like we got some of the commercial allocations shifted over to recreational... Thanks to everyone who pitched in spreading the word and submitted their comments.

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Well looks like we got some of the commercial allocations shifted over to recreational... Thanks to everyone who pitched in spreading the word and submitted their comments.

Gerry, the attached image is from Kiley Dancy to the Council and Commission for 2020 Summer Flounder Specifications. Don't worry about the year, focus on the calculation.

Everyone I would imagine, including me, want to know how the change you posted effects the overall recreational and commercial sectors, both in Commercial ACL and Commercial Quota (Commercial Quota being the same as commercial landings) and Recreational ACL and RHL, the recreational sectors equivalent terminology for catch and landings limits. Could you please post the answer. Fyi, the highlighted areas are the 60:40 allocation calculations based on landings again for 2020.

Just want to make sure we all understand why an allocation for decades which was based on landings was switched to catch and what that actually means to quotas and landings before we all start celebrating. And personally, unless I misunderstand the change and calculation, I don't believe one ounce of the commercial quota was shifted to recreational.

I'll save my next question for after you answer this one.